1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to photo-sticker vending machines placed at video game arcades, department stores or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, various photo-sticker vending machines (often called as Print Club or xe2x80x9cPri-Kuraxe2x80x9d) are marketed. In general, a photo-sticker vending machine captures an image of a player, for example, by a charge coupled device (CCD) camera, combines the player""s image with a prepared frame image, i.e., the image arranged forward of the player""s image (a combined composite image of the player""s image and the frame image is hereinafter called a printing image in this prior art section), prints the printing image onto a photo-sticker sheet and finally dispenses the printed photo-sticker sheet.
With reference to FIG. 11(a), in most cases, a photo-sticker sheet 90, which is used in various prior art photo-sticker vending machines, has a preformed cutting lines L. During a printing process, a controller controls and commands a printer to print a printing image PD within a printing frame (a rectangular frame in FIG. 11(a)) that is surrounded by the cutting lines L. Therefore, each piece of printed sticker can be easily peeled off from a backing sheet along the cutting lines L, as shown in FIG. 11(b).
However, the prior art photo-sticker vending machines have following disadvantages.
Since the cutting lines L are preformed on the photo-sticker sheet 90, shape and size of each printing image PD must fit within the corresponding printing frame surrounded by the cutting lines L. That is , as shown in FIG. 12(a), if the printing image PD is sized and shaped to extend out of the corresponding printing frame, the printing image PD is printed across the cutting lines L on a plurality of photo-stickers. Therefore, the printing image PD is disadvantageously divided among these printed photo-stickers when the printed photo-stickers are peeled off, as shown in FIG. 12(b). As a result, shape and size of each printing image PD are determined by positions of the corresponding cutting lines L that are preformed on the photo-sticker sheet 90. That is, shape and size patterns of the printing image PD are limited due to the cutting lines L, so that the printed photo-sticker is not unique and is not interesting.
Furthermore, in a case of photo-sticker sheets 90 with preformed cutting lines L, a step of forming the cutting lines L on the photo-sticker sheets 90 and a dedicated cutting die for forming the cutting lines L are required in manufacturing of the photo-stickers 90. Therefore, there is another disadvantage of increasing a manufacturing cost of the photo-sticker sheets 90.
Alternatively, in a case of photo-sticker sheets 90 without preformed cutting lines L, various size and image variations of the printing image D can be achieved. However, a tedious cutting work of the printed photo-sticker along an outer peripheral line of corresponding printing image PD with, for example, some scissors is required before the printed photo-sticker is stuck on a desired object.
The present invention addresses the above disadvantages. A first objective of the present invention is to provide a photo-sticker vending machine that allows a printed portion of a photo-sticker sheet to be easily peeled off with a predetermined shape without requiring any preformed cutting lines on the photo-sticker sheet.
A second objective of the present invention is to provide a photo-sticker vending machine that can offer various printing image patterns.
For achieving the objectives of the present invention, a photo-sticker vending machine that allows a user to purchase a photo-sticker by inserting money into and operating the photo-sticker vending machine is provided in the present invention. The photo-sticker vending machine comprises a printing image data memory for storing prepared printing image data, a printer for printing the printing image data on a predetermined photo-sticker sheet, a first controller for controlling the printer, wherein the first controller commands the printer to print on the photo-sticker sheet based on the printing image data stored in the printing image data memory, a cutting data memory for storing cutting data, a cutting device for cutting the photo-sticker sheet to a predetermined shape, and a second controller for controlling the cutting device, wherein the second controller commands the cutting device to cut the photo-sticker sheet based on the cutting data stored in the cutting data memory.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.